Burial casket



May 28, 1935.

L. N. STRUNK 2,003,096

BURIAL CASKET Filed Jan. 11, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 .n LFM X247 Z9 4 INVENTOR M5 YZM 7 M ATTORN EYS May 28, 1935.

BURIAL CASKET L. N. STRUNK 2,003,096

Filed Jan. 11, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR m 71. M

ATTO R N EYS Patented May 28, 1935 PATENT OFFICE BURIAL GASKET Lester N. Strunk, Boyertown,

Pa., assignor to Boyertown Burial Casket Company, Boyertown, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application January 11, 1935, Serial No. 1,270

4 Claims.

This invention relates to-burial caskets made of sheet metal.

Sheet metal burial caskets have been known in the art for a number of years. It has been the 5 practice to construct them of metal sheets mitered and soldered together at the corners. Such caskets have the appearance of being strong, and ordinarily serve their purpose satisfactorily. Actually, however, caskets so constructed are not sufflciently strong at the corners to withstand unusual strains which may occur when the casket is being handled, particularly in transit, and oc-' casionally the corners have broken out during such handling.

It is the primary object of my invention to overcome the foregoing difiiculties by providing a casket which is extremely strong, particularly at the upright corners, for the weight or thickness of the sheet metal employed. 1

A further object of my invention is to provide a burial casket made of relatively thin flexible metal sheets which may be easily formed into the desired ornamental contour and so constructed and joined together that they act as their own reinforcing frame to form a strong, rigid casket.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a sheet metal burial casket having reinforced upright corner portions which are obtained through a novel construction of the metal sheets which comprise the casket walls and through the manner of joining the sheets together.

A more specific object of my invention is to, provide a sheet metal casket in which sheets comprising walls of the casket are flanged along upright edges with the flange in the contour or ornamental shape of the casket, so that the flange portion of a sheet conforms to the configuration or design of the contiguous sheet, thus forming in effect, when spot welded, a reinforcement for the corner in the ornamental shape of the casket.

A further object resides in providing a sheet metal burial casket in which the metal sheets are spot weld-seamed together.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a method of making such caskets.

How the foregoing, together with such other objects and advantages as may hereinafter appear or are incident to my invention, are realized is illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a burial casket constructed in accordance with my invention with a portion broken out to condense the figure;

Figure 2 is a plan view of Figure 1 with. three of the corner portions broken out to illustrate certain details, the upper left corner in the figure being a section taken on the line 22 of Figure 1, the upper right corner on the line Za-Za of Figure 1, and the lower left corner being shown with a piece of the top portion of the casket broken out.

Figures 3 to 16 inclusive illustrate, on a reduced scale, the sheets of metal which comprise the walls of the casketin the forms they take in various steps of fabrication from the first step of blanking the flat sheets to the last step before spot weld-seaming them together to form the casket. Of these views, Figures 4, 6, 9, 11, and 16 are end views of Figures 3, 5, 8, 10, and 14, respectively, looking toward the right, and Figures 7 and 15 are plan sections on the lines l-'! and l5-l5 of Figures 5 and 14, respectively.

Figures 17 and 18 illustrate process of being end flanged.

In constructing a sheet metal burial casket in accordance with my invention, I first blank the end or upright edges of flat metal sheets of the proper length and width for the side and end walls l9 and 20 of the casket into a contour corresponding to the ornamental design of the casket as illustrated in Figures 3 and 8, the sheet of Figure 3 being for the sides of the casket and that of Figure 8 for the ends. These sheets are preferably lead coated and passed through a roller leveling machine to liven them prior to forming.

The contour 2| of the upright edges of the side sheets is the same as the contour 22 ofv the upright edges of the end sheets with the exception of the top and bottom corners. As will be seen by comparing Figures 3 and 8, the top and bottom corners 23 and 24 of the end sheets are of slightly different form than those of the side sheets, but, since the remainder of the contour is the same, I am enabled to employ the same blanking dies for both sheets by the use of removable pieces or inserts for these corners. The upper corner inserts for blanking the end sheets are formed so that the tabs 25 are oflset in the blanking operation an amount equal to the thickness of a sheet and in a plane parallel to the sheet.

In order to form the sheets into their ornamental shape, as illustrated in Figures 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12, suitable forming dies are employed, it being noted that in addition to the sheets bea sheet in the ing pressed into the desired shape, top and bottom flanges are also formed which constitute top and bottom portions 26 and 21 in the finished casket. The top portions 26 are further bent as indicated, for example, at 28 in Figure 13, to provide a down-turned edge for the top opening of the casket.

Due to the ornamental shape which is given to the sheets, the contour of the end edges is changed in this forming operation, but the contour of the fiat sheets is so developed that these edges, after the sheets have been formed into ornamental shape, are of the same contour as the sheets, cross-sectionally considered, so that the edges of contiguous sheets match up.

As thus far described, the operations on the side and end sheets are similar and the side sheets are ready for fabrication into the casket.

The end sheets, however, are provided with flanges 29 along their irregular upright edges, as

illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 14, 15, and 16. These flanges are so formed that they take a shape or contour corresponding to the ornamental shape of the sheets, and therefore the flanges will match up with the side sheets in assembly.

In Figures 1'7 and 18, I have illustrated the preferred manner of forming these flanges. A sheet to be flanged is placed and held between two movable blocks 30 and 3|, theadjacent surfaces 32 and 33 of which are of the same configuration or shape as the sheets so that their ornamental shape is maintained, and the upright edges 34 and 35 of which are also of this same configuration. The edge portion 36 of the sheet projects from the blocks an amount corresponding to the size of flange to be turned up onthe sheet. A fixed block or anvil 31 is spaced from the movable blocks 30 and 3| an amount equal to the thickness of the sheet, as indicated at 38, and is provided with an upper surface 39 and a side face 40 corresponding in shape to the ornamental design of the sheets. The anvil is fixedly supported in a press and the blocks 30 and 3| are carried by the movable member of the press and, as the blocks move downwardly, the projecting portion 36 of the sheet strikes the anvil 31 and on continued downward movement the portion 36 is bent or swept upwardly to form the flange, as indicated in Figure 18.

It is pointed out that, while notches appear in the flanges in Figures 1 and 16 at the points 4|, 42 and 43, these notches are not, as will be seen from inspection of Figure 10, pro-formed, nor are slits of any kind provided at these points in the sheet as ready for the flanging operation. The flanging operation itself takes care of the condition at these points for, when the sheet is operated on by the anvil 31, tears develop at these points which open into the notches, so that I eliminate extra steps in the fabrication. Although I have shown only one flange being formed in Figures 17 and 18, I prefer to form the flanges at both edges of the sheet in one operation.

After the sheets have been thus formed, the

end sheets are located between the side sheets,

as shown in Figures 1 and 2, and they are spot weld-seamed together at the flanges, as indicated at 44.

This spot welding, together with the fact that the flanges of the end sheets are in the contour of the ornamental design of the side sheets whereby the end sheets actually nest in or mate with the side sheets, provides a very strong corner construction capable of withstanding strains such as would cause breaking out of the corners in sheet metal burial caskets as heretofore constructed. By so forming and welding the sheets together, the flanges not only stiffen or reinforce the end sheets on which they are formed but also stiffen or reinforce the side sheets so that, in effect, the casket has reinforced upright corners and this without employing separate framing or corner reinforcing members.

The inturned bottom portions 21' of the sheets are soldered together at the angular seams 45 and the inturned top portions 26 of the side sheets engage the offset tabs 25 of the end sheets and are spot welded thereto, as indicated at 46. The angular seams 41 at the corners where the top portions of the side and end sheets meet are soldered as are also the seams at the upright corners of the casket. This soldering acts as a filler for the joints, so to speak, and hides or covers all seams, thus giving a neat appearance to the finished casket, and also functions as a waterproofing medium at the corners.

When assembling the sheets into a casket, I preferably stand the side sheets in a supporting structure with their long dimensions extending vertically and clamp them in parallel spaced relation and then insert the end sheets therebetween and bring them against stops to their proper end position. This structure, therefore, acts as a jig or fixture in which the sheets are accurately positioned for the spot welding.

In the particular form above described, two opposite walls of the casket, namely, the end walls, are described as being provided with flanges at their upright edges, and the two remaining walls or sides are unflanged, but it is to be understood that I also contemplate having the side walls flanged and the end walls unflanged. In some instances, it may be desirable to only provide a flange at one upright edge of each wall, leaving the other upright edge unflanged so that the flanged portion of one sheet is welded to the adjacent unflanged portion of the contiguous sheet.

I find that with a casket constructed in accordance with my invention, I can use very thin sheets, for example, sheets of 24 gauge or .022" thick, and still obtain the strength and rigidity desirable in burial caskets.

While I have not illustrated a bottom or covers applied to the casket, these, of course, will be provided in any well known manner.

What I claim is:- I

1. A burial casket comprising side and end sheets of relatively thin flexible metal having like irregular contours in cross section, an inturned end flange on an end sheet and normal thereto, the broadside of said flange being of the same irregular contour as the sheets, the adjacent end portion of the adjacent side sheet having its end edge of said irregular contour and being unflanged, and means securing said unflanged portion of said side sheet to said end sheet at the flange thereof and in lapped relation thereto.

2. A burial casket comprising two sets of metal sheetsirregularly contoured in cross section and similarly irregularly contoured at their ends,

flanges at the ends of the sheets of one set normal to the sheets, the broadside of said flanges conforming in contour to said irregular contour of the sheets whereby they nestingly receive the sheets of the other set, and means joining the sheets at said flanges, whereby a concealed flange reinforced corner construction presenting smooth continuous outside surfaces is provided.

3. A burial casket comprising a pair of side and a pair of end sheets of relatively thin flexible metal having like irregular contours in cross section, and means for securing said sheets together comprising inturned end flanges on one pair of sheets and normal thereto, said flanges being of like irregular contour to the irregular contour of the sheets, and unflanged end portionson the other pair of sheets the end edges of which are of the same irregular contour as the sheets, said end portions of the second mentioned pair of sheets mating with the flanges of the first pair in lapped relation whereby the flanges are on the'interior of the casket, and spot welds joining said flanged and unflanged mating portions. 4. A burial casket comprising side and end metal sheets irregularly contoured in cross section and similarly irregularly contoured at their ends, similarly irregularly contoured flanges at the'ends of the end sheets and normal thereto, said sheets also having inturned flanges along their upper edge portions, 9. tab at the end portion of the upper inturned flange of one sheet adapted to be lapped by the adjacent end portion of the adjacent sheet, means securing said lapped portion to said tab, said side sheets being unflanged at their end portions, and means securing the unflanged end portions of the side sheets to the flanges of the end sheets with said unflanged end portions in lapped relation to said flanges.

LESTER N. S'I'RUNK. 

